I live by the motto “never judge a book by its cover”; some of the best things in life come in unexpected forms. I always try to keep an open mind and will try anything once (within reason). It is with this mentality that I have discovered my love for things like escargot and raw fish. I was hesitant to try these things at first, but I’m so glad that I did.

For breakfast this morning I had a bowl of unconventional oats. I used 1/2 cup raw rolled oats, 1/3 cup Chobani Plain Greek Yogurt, 1/3 cup pumpkin, 1/2 of a large banana, ground flax, honey and cinnamon. With inspiration from Catlin, raw oatmeal is quickly becoming one of my favorite breakfast dishes. I did not think it sounded appealing at first, but after trying it I immediately fell in love. It has a better consistency than overnight oats and is far more substantive than granola or cereal. It keeps me full, satisfied and happy all morning long.

Lunch today is also “off the beaten path” so to speak. I packed my lunchbox with a sunflower seed butter, spinach and red bell pepper sandwich on whole wheat with two large carrots, an Empire apple and a super-charge me cookie. Allie sent me my very first jar of sunflower seed butter a few weeks ago and I have been dipping into it non-stop. I have added sunflower seed butter to everything from bread to yogurt, and found that some of my favorite surfaces have been vegetables. In fact, I think the best combination I tried was raw broccoli dipped in sunflower seed butter. Sounds odd, but it was so good. Remember my motto?

To my dismay, I woke up this morning to a torrential down pour. My dad and I were going to go on a bike ride but had to cancel our plans due to the massive puddles that had accumulated. Instead, we decided to go to the local high school track and run. Before we left I had a pre-run banana.

When we returned, “Dad’s Breakfast Kitchen” was in full swing for another amazing Sunday brunch! This lovely omelet was made with 3 egg whites and 1/2 a run away yolk, stuffed with spinach and goat cheese, and topped with fresh tomato, basil and more goat cheese. On the side I had a piece of whole wheat toast with fresh strawberries, honey and cinnamon. Needless to say, I was in breakfast heaven.

While waiting for the rain to pass, I took another stab at baking Super Charge Me Cookies in my parent’s functional oven and they came out MUCH better than my little disaster last time.

What an oven should look like.

Cookies that aren't burnt!

I used peanut butter and loaded them with dark chocolate chips, sunflower seeds, dried cherries and dried cranberries. I had one for a snack before heading out on a stroll with my parents. I think it gave me a fair boost of energy because I found myself dancing to non-existent music as we walked around the neighborhoods. It is a good thing that my parent’s love is unconditional because my dance moves are borderline embarrassing.

I had planned on returning to my apartment later in the afternoon but was running behind schedule so I stayed at home for dinner. Besides, birthday cake was involved and I am not one to turn down good company and dessert. For dinner “Cafe Mom” was open and we had leftover steak with horseradish sauce, oven roasted sweet potatoes, a mixed green and tomato salad and boiled carrots and broccoli.Today was my mom’s actual birthday so we celebrated with a small cake for dessert.I had a slice complete with MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP (!!!!I have been dreaming of mint chocolate chip and my parents bought some on their grocery store trip. I love them.) ice cream.This concludes another segment of “my wonderful weekend at home”. Gotta love family.

Another Week,

Nora

What is your favorite food?

**(I feel like this is the hardest question in the world to answer, but it is something people frequently ask me. I like so many things and have yet to find a food that I truly dislike, therefore; I had a very long internal debate about what was my all-time favorite food. My conclusion: Ice cream. Go figure.)

Bonsoir! (good evening) After a night of French dining, I’m starting to channel my inner Julia Child. The restaurant we went to for my mom’s birthday this evening was a small and quaint venue operated by a team from France. HOW HAVE I NEVER BEEN HERE?!?!?? There are no words for my first French dining experience. It was one of the most delicious meals of my life.

It all started with a piece of fresh rosemary and olive bread with a glass of pinot blanc.Followed by a few appetizers.

JUST KIDDING! But coming home to a sinfully delicious and hoppy Middle Ages Wailing Wench beer adds incentive. My real reason for coming home a second weekend in a row is to celebrate my best friend’s birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

My mom will be another year wiser this Sunday, but because my brother and I have work/school on Monday morning we will be celebrating by going out to dinner on Saturday evening. We are going to a French restaurant that she picked out and I am BEYOND excited! I’ve never been to a French restaurant and I cannot wait to engage in a new cultural experience (complete with a nice Bordeaux wine of course 🙂 ).

I drove directly home after work today and sipped on a much appreciated beer with my dad as my mom prepared dinner. For dinner we had grilled steak with oven roasted potato wedges and an iceberg wedge salad with goat cheese and tomatoes in a red wine vinaigrette. Dinner was also served with a touch more beer. IT’S SO GOOD, I SWEAR!

I’m not a huge steak person, however; from time to time I CRAVE it and nothing else will do. I haven’t had red meat in a while and lately my meals have been fairly vegetarian, so I was long over due. I topped my steak with a bit of A1 Steak Sauce and had an abundance of ketchup on the side for my potato wedges. Home cookin’ at its finest! Thanks mom!

After dinner I proceeded to clean the kitchen. Fun Fact: I’m a freak about cleaning the kitchen. It doesn’t even have to be my own. I have been known to obsessively do the dishes at dinner parties.

When I finished, I desperately searched the freezer for my favorite mint chocolate chip ice cream but there was none to be found. I debated baking brownies but it was nearly 9pm. What is a girl with a sweet-tooth to do? IMPROVISE. I mixed ~1/3 cup Chobani Plain Greek Yogurt with 1 heaping tsp of Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa powder and then added a mound of chopped strawberries and cinnamon to the bowl. Not quite ice cream but still delicious!

I’ve been awake since 5 AM and I’m exhausted. I think a ritual Farmer’s Market Saturday trip is in store for tomorrow (weather permitting), so hopefully I’ll be meeting you at the market!

This morning I had a big ol’ bowl of overnight oats. It has been WAY too hot to make hot oatmeal but cereal and smoothies NEVER fill me like a hearty bowl of loaded oats. I added 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1/2 cup vanilla soy milk, cinnamon and vanilla extract to my bowl and let it sit overnight. In the morning I stirred in 1/2 cup of Chobani plain Greek yogurt and topped the mixture with 1 sliced banana, roasted almonds, dried cranberries, cinnamon and honey. I typically add the milk and yogurt together overnight, but find that this can result in a bowl that is too thick or even chalky. The method I used today left me with a smooth, creamy and cool bowl of oatmeal full of intense vanilla flavor.

(Side Note: I miss chia seeds :(. I ran out a while ago and they can be expensive, so I decided not to buy them until I finish the flax I have on hand…not the same my friends, not the same. I might give in and buy more soon.)

I wasn’t sure how to prepare my overnight oats because every “recipe” I have seen for this version of oatmeal is slightly different. This got me thinking, there are SO many ways to make a hearty oatmeal breakfast. I have prepared oats in more ways than I can even think of:

GROATS! What a funny name. Kasha (aka buckwheat groats) is a cereal commonly consumed in Eastern European countries. Although it is classified as a “cereal”, it can be used in both sweet and savory dishes. After some research, I found that one popular way to prepare kasha is a dish called Kasha Varnishkas, which is composed of sautéed onions, brown gravy and bow tie pasta.

I have been wanting to cook with kasha for a while now and after mulling over the savory idea of Kasha Varnishkas, I created kasha and smoked tofu lettuce wraps. I’m not sure where I came up with this dish but I am so glad that I did!

I’m going to add this to my recipe section (sorry I haven’t been updating this!) but just to give an overview:

I toasted the kasha in a skillet and added it to a pot of simmering chicken stock (use vegetable stock to make this a truly vegetarian dish) for about ten minutes until the liquid was absorbed. I sautéed onions, red bell pepper, button mushrooms, broccoli and zucchini in olive oil and finished the vegetable mixture with lemon juice and cracked black pepper. I wanted to keep the flavors of this dish clean to really highlight the nuttiness of the kasha. I added 1/4 of a block of Soy-Boy smoked tofu at the very end and filled a few sturdy romaine leaves with a bed of shredded carrot and the kasha and smoked tofu mixture.

Essentially this dish was a fun new take on stir-fry, not to mention it was fun to eat and extremely satisfying. I loved nutty flavor of the kasha combined with the sweet onion and vegetable mix. The tofu was awesome! It reminded me a lot of smoked mozzarella cheese. When I come home at the end of a long day the last thing I want to do is turn my hot oven on or fuss with a frozen protein. I’m not a vegetarian, however; I love tofu and tempeh and these are great easy sources of protein to have on hand!